New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio got into hot water with some parts of the Jewish world for chastising the broad community because hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews came out to pay their respects for a rabbi who passed away amid the coronavirus pandemic.
One can agree or disagree with the multitudes coming out to pay respects for the deceased which risked furthering the contagion. The matter at hand is that the far-left progressive mayor had never called out and lectured any religious or minority group, and only “the Jewish community” got scolded with “the time for warnings has passed.”
This is not new. The left has a history of berating Jews as insolent children.
In November 2015, Vice President Joe Biden addressed the Union of Reform Judaism which is headed by far left-wing rabbis. During his remarks, Biden stabbed his finger and lambasted a private Israeli citizen who was being considered for a government position who had made some comments about President Obama years prior, saying “There is no excuse, there should be no tolerance for any member or employee of the Israeli administration referring to the president of United States in derogatory terms. Period, period, period, period!” This attack on old comments of a private citizen came from the same Administration that had just called Israeli Prime Minister a “chicksh*t.”
It’s not broad hypocrisy; it’s quite select and targeted at Jews. The liberal politicians don’t give a second thought to calling out Jews even while they excuse other groups.
When the “progressive” New York Times reported on the de Blasio incident, it wrote “The local police department did not stand in their way, a testament to the Hasidic community’s influence in the Williamsburg neighborhood.” That’s polite liberal speak for Jew’s have power over the police. They’re puppet-masters. An old noxious libel.
New York Times cover story on April 30, 2020 wrote about Jewish “influence” over the police department.
When the far-left news program CNN had Christiane Amanpour interviewing Congresswoman Ilan Omar in January 2019, she asked Omar the following:
“Can I move on to something that is generally sort of a right of passage for politicians in the United States and that is sort of to profess sort of fealty, or at least pay homage, to AIPAC, the pro-Israel PAC that is very, very prominent.”
That’s the largest news program in the world saying that the entirety of Congress serves as vassals for the Israeli lobby.
And it did so without a thought or concern or any backlash.
The liberal press and politicians would never treat the Black, Hispanic or Asian community in such fashion. But the Jews are different. Just ask the United Nations.
The UN has sanctified the absurd Muslim Arab position that Jews living in the Old City of Jerusalem are illegal settlers, even those living in the Jewish Quarter. Every year, the UN passes resolutions calling for the eviction of those Jews who have altered “the character” of Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest city.
And it’s not just about the land the Jews live on – it’s the Jewish people themselves. The UN targets “Islamophobia” and has demanded that terrorism never be linked to any religion – unless it’s the religion of the Jews. The UN avoids saying “Islamic radicals” but is fine calling out “Jewish extremists.”
While one can understand the 50+ Muslim and Arab nations pushing such drivel, it defies logic that liberal countries do not come out forcefully against the invective.
Reasons for Open Progressive Disdain of Jews
Some people argue that the Democrats can abuse the Jews because the Jews are forever loyal, with between 64% and 80% voting for the Democratic nominee every presidential election. That argument falls flat. The black community is much more loyal to the Democratic party but will never be ridiculed and slandered in public like Jews.
There are three primary reasons behind progressives only attacking Jews:
- Jews lack cohesion found in other minorities
- Jews are viewed as a privileged class
- Jews will forever be a small niche group
Jews Lack Cohesion
If someone takes a shot at a Black person, the entire Black community rallies in collective support. Even Blacks who thought OJ Simpson was guilty of murder were thrilled that he was found not guilty. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before a joint session of Congress about the Iran deal, Blacks around the country didn’t pause about the existential threat facing Israel but considered the snub of a Black president.
The Black community is cohesive and sees the world through a particular Black lens. But not so for the Jews.
Liberal Jews – particularly non-Orthodox ones – see themselves primarily as progressives and Jews secondarily. For them, Judaism is a value system based on “Tikkun Olam,” so any action that feels “progressive” is inherently Jewish to them, even if it abuses fellow Jews. They will rally to support hateful comments made by “progressives” like Ilan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, even while the rest of the Jewish community feels hurt and abused.
There is no cohesive Jewish community as exists for other minorities. Without cohesion, it’s easy to borrow the fig leaf of liberal Jews who will absolve any charge of antisemitism. So when Obama trashed the Jewish State, J Street came out with the liberal shield; when he ignored antisemitism as the motivation of Muslim terrorists shooting up a kosher supermarket, liberals swarmed to the defense of their true savior.
Consider that Biden attacked a private Jewish Israeli – to a Jewish audience! And the alt-left Jews stood and cheered! Would any politician ever consider going into a minority forum and loudly criticize a member of that minority group? Never. Unless they knew that the comments would be warmly embraced, which could only happen among progressive Jews.
Jews are Privileged
Progressives rally to minorities and groups considered under-privileged and even more so in today’s world of “intersectionality”. Liberals are animated and engaged in situations where they feel empathy, which directs their attention to those doing poorly.
The Black, Hispanic and LGBT communities are viewed by liberals as suffering from discrimination embedded in the fabric of society (the fact the Jews suffer hate crimes much more than these groups is neither acknowledged nor internalized). These marginalized groups WANT to be part of society but have been shut out.
But liberals – including Jewish liberals – see Jews in three camps: the rich bankers and CEO’s who must be pulled down to flatten society, the Ultra-Orthodox Jews who hate gays, decided to have too many kids and who DON’T WANT to be part of society, and open-minded progressives whose Judaism is solely cultural. They hate the first two categories and embrace the third as comrades.
Biden had no qualms chiding a private Israeli citizen or the government of Israel for building in their holiest city because he thinks that the Jewish State is a unique kind of ally – one already fat from America. The price for American support is to shut up, stop complaining and do what the liberals demand, like a parent directing an out of control child. There’s no liberal empathy for this rich and powerful country, a position completely at odds with Conservatives who see Israel as a powerful trust-worthy ally in an important and volatile region.
For its part, the United Nations thinks it created Israel and failed to deliver a Palestinian state so has adopted the Palestinian Arabs as eternal wards. This combination enables the liberal European nations in the global organization to think Israel has too much relative to Palestinian Arabs and warps their orientation.
The Future of Small Numbers
Politics has always been a game of numbers. At the UN, would you rather gain the votes of dozens of Muslim and Arab countries or a single Jewish State? In bilateral negotiations, would you rather market your products to 1.8 billion Muslims or 14 million Jews?
For liberal politicians, the dynamic is magnified by the desire to “equitize” society by flattening the distribution of everything. A niche group which accounts for 0.2% of the global population but 20% of the Nobel prizes is not viewed as CONTRIBUTING disproportionately to the world but TAKING disproportionately. Liberals want to see other groups gaining ground at the expense of these niche “takers.”
When de Blasio rethinks education in New York, he thinks about how to get more Black and Hispanic kids into good high schools and college, not Jews. When Jews ask for police protection for their schools, the liberal crowd goes nuts and does everything they can to shut it down with demands that Jews pay for their own protection and not take from minority public school kids.
Hispanics and Blacks make up 18.3% and 13.4% of the US population, respectively, and those percentages are growing. The Muslim population will surpass the Jews in the United States by 2040 according to Pew Research, doubling in size from today, while the Jewish population will barely budge, to fall below 2% of the population.
Progressives falsely market themselves as looking out for minorities. They are actually seeking an equality of outcome in a broad redistribution revolution. People of color and Muslims are their focus and their pathway to power because of the VOLUME of people and votes. Tapping into Muslim anti-Zionism with Israel bashing and ignoring Black antisemitism are fruitful ways to advance their alt-left agenda. Losing a handful of Jewish votes is easy arithmetic.
The left-wing politicians and media chastise Jews without fear as progressive diaphanous-Jews deflect any criticism. The liberal members of the United Nations abstain or vote for voluminous and venomous resolutions against the Jewish State in an appeal to the vast Muslim market. And who doesn’t enjoy taking the chosen people down a peg or two?
The Jews are forever privileged, small and lacking in unity. Easy targets for progressive politicians to berate and liberal media to vilify in their appeal to the growing audience seeking an intersectional revolution.
Related First One Through articles:
The Invisible Anti-Semitism in Obama’s 2016 State of the Union
When Only Republicans Trust the Police
Black Lives Matter Joins the anti-Israel “Progressives” Fighting Zionism
Mayor De Blasio is Blind to Black Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism Is Harder to Recognize Than Racism
Ilhan Omar Isn’t Debating Israeli Policy, She is Attacking Americans
The Nerve of ‘Judaizing’ Neighborhoods
The War Against Israel and Jewish Civilians
The Insidious Jihad in America
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